Vasilevskiy Shows Why He is Still The Best with Stellar Game 6 Performance
- Mike Smith
- May 2
- 5 min read
By MIke Smith | Thunderstruck Sports
Questions abounded in the days leading up to Friday night's crucial Game 6 regarding the effectiveness and performance of Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Is he not living up to the series' expectations? Is he past his prime? Is "The Big Cat" no longer the threat he once was during the Stanley Cup Championship years?
After a dominating performance at the Bell Centre on Friday night, it can be confirmed that Vasilevskiy is doing just fine.
The Russian phenomenon stopped all 30 shots he faced, including a huge double save against Ivan Demidov in the second period, to propel the Lightning to a thrilling 1-0 overtime win over the Canadiens.
The Game 6 victory sends the Eastern Conference First Round series back to Tampa for a grand finale Sunday night at the Benchmark International Arena. This will mark the first time that Tampa Bay and Montreal will face off in a winner-takes-all Game 7.
Vasilevskiy Delivers When Needed
Friday night, Vasilevskiy did Vasilevskiy does best: Be Andrei Vasilevskiy. Cool and calm, the 'Big Cat' came out and gave another stellar performance to put on his Hall of Fame resume.
Where other players might have been nervous and anxious pregame, Vasilevskiy was in the zone long before puck drop. Don't ask him what words of wisdom head coach Jon Cooper gave the team in the locker room before Game 6.
“To be honest, I didn’t really hear. I was kind of one-on-one with my thoughts,” Vasilevskiy said. “Same as the crowd here. I don’t hear anything. Same as in the locker room. I don’t listen to anything.”
That brought a laugh from the gathered members of the media.
“No, seriously, too much is going on in my head to listen,’’ Vasilevskiy said.
His concentration in a hostile environment is second to none. There he was, in one of the greatest buildings in all of sports, tuning out a deafening crowd of 20,962.
“I’m trying to be locked in every game,” Vasilevskiy said. “Tonight was obviously very important. Yeah, if there would have been a mistake, it would have been really costly.”
Vasilevskiy left the Canadiens stunned after his performance. Late in the second period, he stoned Montreal's Ivan Demidov not once, but twice, in a critical penalty kill situation.
Demidov received a cross-slot pass from Nick Suzuki and wristed a shot. Vasilevskiy lunged to his left to make the pad save and kicked the puck back at the Montreal forward.
Demidov immediately backhanded the rebound up and back towards the Lightning net, and for a moment, it looked like he would have the first goal of the night. It was almost a certainty.
Almost.
In a fit of athletic prowess, Vasilevskiy managed to right himself enough to reach back with his glove to snatch Demidov's shot out of the air and keep the Habs off the board.
After the whistle, Demidov skated away, stunned, shaking his head, the victim of grand larceny at its finest.
“Best goalie in the world for a reason,” Lightning star Jake Guentzel said. “He gives us a chance every night. Some of the saves he made, they were just incredible saves.”
“That’s just one (less) thing off your mind, you don’t have to worry about that big guy back there,” Brandon Hagel said. “Because you know he’s going to be kicking ’em for you, and he’s going to give you everything he possibly has."
"You can just go out there and play your game and worry about yourself because you know he’s going to make that save. He did that all night for us.”
The Big Cat Has Nine Lives, and a Short Memory
Only 48 hours earlier, after Game 5, many questioned Vasilevskiy's ability to produce in big games when needed.
When asked if it felt good to have such an amazing bounce-back performance after Game 5, Vasilevskiy simply retorted:
"What happened in Game 5?"
Vasilevskiy gave up the game-winning goal on Wednesday night when Alexandre Texier came streaking into the Lightning zone after a stretch pass from Lane Hutson. Texier's shot went off Vasilevskiy's glove and found the back of the net.
Obviously, the Tampa Bay netminder would have wanted that shot back, as any goalie would, but Vasilevskiy simply put it into perspective:
“I mean, it was a good shot,” he said, shrugging.
And then he moved on. That's what elite goalies do. That's what they have to do. Move on and get ready for the next shot.
On Friday night, he was ready for all 30 shots.
“The bigger the stakes, the more intense the game, he seems to rise to the occasion,” Jon Cooper said. “This will be looked at as a goaltender battle because it was a 1-0 game in overtime. But it’s the saves you make and the timing of the saves."
Vasy, Vasy, Vasy! Oy, Oy, Overtime!
Vasilevskiy continued his stellar performance right into overtime, stopping four shots, including two in the first 90 seconds of the extra stanza.
Most important in overtime was a save on a Hutson slapshot at the 6:41 mark. Nikita Kucherov had been sent off for tripping Alexandre Carrier, forcing the Lightning penalty kill unit to make a critical effort to keep their season alive.
The Hutson shot would be the only shot Montreal would have on their power play, and then moments later, Gage Goncalves would score the game-winning goal to send the series back to Tampa.
"You take a penalty in overtime. On (Lane) Hutson, that’s a big-time save. We kill it off and score a minute later," Cooper said. "But that’s the timing of it. That’s the rising to the occasion that we’ve seen him (Vasilevskiy) do time and time again.”
“The Big Cat jokes around at times,” Goncalves said afterwards. “But it’s pretty fun being on the outside looking into that, his preparation every single day, whether it’s practice, pregame skate, or going into a game.
"And watching him (before overtime), just taking a look over in the dressing room, you just knew in the back of your mind you didn’t have to worry about that guy. His preparation is unbelievable, and that’s what makes him the best goalie in the world.”
Game 7 Awaits
As much as Montreal was hoping to wrap the series up Friday night, the Habs must now make another journey to Tampa to face the Lightning.
Expect Andrei Vasilevskiy to be there.
In what has been the best series so far in these young Stanley Cup Playoffs, each team knew the chances of a Game 7 showdown were very likely. Thanks to Vasilevskiy, Sunday evening's finale is now a certainty.
The Lightning aren't taking anything for granted.
“Both teams had 106 points this season, they’re a really, really good hockey team over there; we’re a really, really good hockey team here,” Hagel said. “I don’t think we expected anything else other than what’s going on here.
"They have incredible players, everything. They’ve got everything over there, and we think we’ve got everything over here. The series is going like we expected it to. It’s going to come down to one game. And I’m excited.”
“That was the big thing in the locker room after we won. Sure, guys were pumped. But we haven’t won anything yet,” Cooper said. “All we did was win a game to send us back to Tampa. And keep our season alive. You don’t want to rain on the parade because, what a win by the guys. But we haven’t accomplished anything yet.”
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